Invisible Things

<b><b>A sharp allegorical novel about a hidden human civilization a crucial election and a mysterious invisible force that must not be named by one of our most imaginative comic novelists</b> <br><br><b>LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD &#149; </b>ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>The Washington Post</i></b><br><br>When sociologist Nalini Jackson joins the SS <i>Delany </i>for the first manned mission to Jupiter all she wants is a career opportunity: the chance to conduct the first field study of group dynamics on long-haul cryoships. But what she discovers instead is an entire city encased in a bubble on Europa Jupiter&#146;s largest moon.&#160;<br><br>Even more unexpected Nalini and the rest of the crew soon find themselves abducted and joining its captive population forced to start new lives in a place called New Roanoke.&#160;<br><br>New Roanoke is a city riven by wealth inequality and governed by a feckless predatory elite its economy run on heedless consumption and income inequality. But in other ways it&#146;s different from the cities we already know: it&#146;s covered by an enormous dome it&#146;s populated by alien abductees and it happens to be terrorized by an invisible entity so disturbing that no one even dares acknowledge its existence.&#160;<br><br>Albuquerque chauffer Chase Eubanks is pretty darn sure aliens stole his wife. People mock him for saying that but he doesn&#146;t care who knows it. So when his philanthropist&#160;boss funds a top-secret rescue mission to save New Roanoke&#146;s abductees Chase jumps at the chance to find her. The plan: Get the astronauts out and provide the population with the tech they need to escape this alien world. The reality: Nothing is ever simple when dealing with the complex contradictory and contrarian impulses of everyday earthlings.&#160;<br><br>This is a madcap surreal adventure into a Jovian mirror world one grappling with the same polarized politics existential crises and mass denialism that obsess and divide our own. Will New Roanoke survive? Will we?